


Made Up

by econator



Series: Sweet Macaron [5]
Category: Formula E RPF, Motorsport RPF, Political RPF - Canadian 21st c., Political RPF - France 21st c.
Genre: And We Go Green, Comfort of Strangers, Flirting, Gen, M/M, Makeup, Photography, Talking Politics, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 13:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20601413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/econator/pseuds/econator
Summary: Jev is in the stylist's chair for his TIFF profile photo. The stylist is cooler than he expected





	Made Up

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by photos on Jev's Instagram feed of the pre-festival happenings, and the political context in which the film is being released. None of this happened.

Jev closed his eyes against the blast of the hair dryer. To be honest, this part – the part when he was the sole focus of someone's generous, caring attention – was the reason he loved photo shoots, and had agreed to do one for the film festival. He could handle the awkwardness of smiling for no reason at a camera, but having someone else in charge of making him gorgeous was the real draw. Jev sat still in the chair, taking deep, centering breaths, enjoying the moment. The man doing his hair moved on from the dryer to the pommade, allowing him to relax into the brief massage.

'Can I add a bit of...uh, jazz to the top?' the look artist said, gently tugging Jev's hair through his fingertips. 'It looks a bit “middle management” for a film festival.'

'Yeah, sure.' It's not like Jev really knew what to do with his hair these days. It was one of those things that used to be part of his signature style, and then shit happened, and he had kinda given up trying to be creative with it. He knew he was playing it safe with the barber, but he couldn't pretend it didn't hurt his feelings that the guy had called his cut “middle management.” He was, after all, a founding investor in two tech companies. 'Can you do something I can do myself at home?'

The guy ran his fingers through Jev's hair gauging the length.

'Sure.' He tugged the fringe to the side. 'It's a good cut. Solid overall shape. Just needs you to have fun with it.'

'Yeah, I stopped having fun with it a while back.'

'The volume problem?'

'My sister got some revenge with my beard trimmer at Christmas.'

'Shit, I'm sorry, man.' He picked up the pot of pommade and showed it to Jev. He scooped a little out on his fingertip for demonstration, before scraping it back into the jar. 'Okay, so this stuff I used, you only need a little. You put it on your fingertips and run it all the way through the hair, so it's even. Then just tug it in the direction you want it to go, like this.'

He pulled Jev's hair to the side a little, showing Jev what he was doing in the mirror.

'Heh. I look like skinny Chase Jarvis with a beard,' Jev said, grinning.

'That's a good thing?'

'Well, I want my photos to look like his, so maybe we start with the hair.'

The stylist smoothed the back and sides down to look neat, and paused to review his work.

'Good. Yeah. You think you can do that every day?'

'Yeah, it's not too difficult.'

'Cool.' The artist pointed at Jev's forehead. 'Uh, do you want me to do some powder here? For the shine.'

Jev looked up at him.

'Do I need it?'

'Sorry, I didn't mean to get my bitch voice on with you. It's just fitting the brief into the schedule, you know? You could use a bit of concealer under your eyes as well.' He made butterfly fingers under his own eyes. 'That trans-Atlantic flight is murder on the skin.'

'Sure, yes please. Make me look like I belong here with the beautiful people.'

The man smiled as he picked up a stick of yellow concealer.

'You definitely belong with the beautiful people.' He motioned for Jev to look up, and duly painted two stripes under his eyes. 'What do you do, anyway?' he said, blending it in with a sponge.

'I'm a racing driver.'

'Cool. I don't get many of you on my booking list. Usually it's actors, investors.' He swapped the sponge for a highlighter stick. 'Directors don't really give a shit what they look like.'

'Actually, I'm an investor too. I do angel investments in tech. But I'm here for a documentary about my series.'

'Cool.' He traded the highlighter for a lowlighter, and did the hollows of Jev's cheeks. 'You must be a big shot to be over here.'

'I made history in my championship. It's electric. Green is one of Trudeau's priorities.'

The man snorted, blending the base over Jev's skin.

'Yeah, when the cameras are around.'

'You mean?'

'My family's from a place that's now a pipeline that he wants to reinforce.'

'I'm sorry.' He looked up at him, recalling a conversation he'd overheard between Manu and Justin. 'I'm really sorry.'

'Your guy's doing okay at taking his arseholery down a notch, though, isn't he? Starting to be less arrogant, make amends to the countries France colonised?'

'Yeah. He's really opening his heart to the country. Slowly, but progress is progress. I wish I could tell journalists what he does when nobody's looking. I wish I could talk about him on social media without getting angry comments.'

The man raised an eyebrow at Jev, picking up some dark brown eye shadow, which made him shrink internally. His face must've shown his hesitation, because the stylist patted his hand.

'Don't worry, Honey, it's for your eyebrows.' He squinted at Jev's brows. 'Actually, can I tidy those up a bit for you?'

'Do what you need to.'

'Fantastic.' He pulled a little comb and a pair of scissors out of his case. 'Now do tell about your fabulously sassy president.'

Jev realised as the man combed and trimmed his brows that he didn't have many stories of Manu that weren't either covered by their project's confidentiality agreement, or inappropriate for polite small talk.

'He's just got a really big heart, you know? He spent hours going over the notes he made on his tour of opinion, trying to work out the best way to go forward, given where France is right now. He really cares about the wellbeing of the nation, and all the news has for him is criticism. He does so much work behind the scenes to keep a lid on the shit show south of your border.' The makeup artist dusted the brown eyeshadow over Jev's eyebrows. 'He's photogenic when he's tired. It makes me wish I could post more about him on Instagram.'

'Sounds like you have a special bond,' he said, adding a bit of brown mascara to Jev's lashes.

'We've spoken about the Green France plan a few times.'

'Uh huh. I'll bet that was a stimulating conversation.' He paused to emphasise “stimulating.”

'It was. Very stimulating. He's very passionate and energetic.'

'He's on the move.'

Jev chuckled.

'Yes he is.'

'He must be to keep up with a pro athlete around his schedule. I hear the party he threw in Biarritz was gorgeous.'

'I didn't go to Biarritz with him that time. But lighthouse parties are always fun.'

'Everyone standing around having cocktails and canapés in a giant, light-up cock. Sounds positively thrilling.'

Jev laughed.

'Well, when you say it like that, it does sound like the people who ship him with Trudeau are right.' He looked up at his stylist. 'It was a metaphor for needing to aim a little way to the right of the light to enter the safety of the harbour. Not the political right. The side of right, without anything to do with politics.'

'Oh yeah? You were on the planning team?'

'I consulted on the sustainable aspect of the summit.' He remembered something adorable about Manu that wasn't covered by their agreements. 'The summit was held in the Basque country, and the fifteen million that was approved, but Manu under-spent on the event is being invested in sustainable infrastructure in the region to compensate for the environmental cost of having it there. They're the most peaceful people in France at the moment who want to self-govern. He wanted to give them a foot up so they can be more empowered to take back control of their administrative decisions.'

'Athlete, photographer, investor, and sustainable empowerment party planner to the president.' The man squeezed Jev's upper arm, smiling down at him. 'You're quite the well-rounded guy!'

'I'm not polite though. I don't know your name, and it feels like I should.'

'Gus.' He took Jev's hand. 'I don't know yours, and it feels like I should.'

'Jev.' He gently squeezed Gus' hand in greeting. 'Is this your normal art form?'

'I do some tagging, some canvas work, some sculpture, mostly metal and found objects. Doing hair and face paint for the rich and beautiful pays the bills.'

'I'd love to see some of your work.'

'You will in a moment.'

'I meant your street art. I'm here for a few days launching our film. I'd like to ride a bicycle to see the sights of the city.'

Gus grinned.

'You wanna spray together? We can do a forest in an alleyway or something to remind people about Priorities.'

'A cheetah never turns down an opportunity to mark territory.'

'Is that a yes?'

'Yes.' He took Gus' hand and pulled him close. 'Do you know where Trudeau drives often? I'd like to paint the Biarritz lighthouse where he'll see it often.'

'I like your thinking, and I might know a place that would work.' Gus grinned. He patted Jev's arm as he straightened. 'Can I paint that beautiful mouth of yours now? I'll put a coating on it that saves you dirtying the wine glass.'

'Sure.'

'I'm glad I got you in my chair today.' Jev hummed his agreement, gesturing reciprocity, as Gus painted a nude shade of lipstick onto him. Gus blotted the lipstick with tissue. 'You'll be glad to know I use hemp tissues. Better for the environment than deforesting British Columbia.'

'Is that where you're from?'

'Yeah, originally.' He painted the fixer coat over Jev's lips. 'My family are from there. Pretty close to the border with Alberta. I left to find the big city lights, but I go back often. Can't stay away.' He fanned his hands in front of Jev's mouth. 'I start to miss the forest when I've been gone for too long, you know? The smell. The sounds. Just that feeling of being surrounded by trees, friends who've been alive since before I was born, wisdom that could be lost in my lifetime. There's nothing quite like it.' Gus stood back, and examined his work. He turned Jev's chair around so he could see his reflection in the mirror. 'Do you like this canvas of mine?'

'I like what you've done to it.'

Gus leaned on the arms of the chair, his mouth close to Jev's ear.

'The canvas was good to start with. I just added a few finishing touches.'

'Well, thanks.' He stood up and air-kissed Gus' cheeks. 'Really. Thank you a lot. I'm really glad I got to connect with a fellow artist today.'

'Me too.' Gus handed him a card from his back pocket. 'Give me a call. We can go for that bike ride. Mark Toronto as your territory. Remind someone that he needs to steer back towards the morally right thing.'

'My winning streak started in Montreal, so I should pay homage to Canada's role in my return to the light.'

'Do some sketches. Text them to me. We'll make a plan.'

'Thanks. I will.'

Gus reached out and squeezed Jev's hand.

'I look forward to spraying with you.'

Jev walked out into the photo studio feeling more confident of himself than he had since Lorene and André both left him. He obediently took direction and held the camera's close-up stare for his feature photo, mentally playing with images of the lighthouse that would be easy to spray quickly. The photographer thanked him for his time, ushering him out the door as the next subject arrived from makeup. He walked outside into the oblique light of the Canadian autumn, made up for the day's parties, feeling like there might be hope for his future after all.

**Author's Note:**

> The pipeline happened, though. If you feel like a dose of outrage, "Alberta tar sands" is a helpful term for general search engines, or just YouTube "Patriot Act Canada" for the abridged version. 
> 
> The lighthouse at the G7 summit was real too. It was a central motif to all the coverage. I'm imagining that it was a moral metaphor, since if Macron had wanted to show off a nationalist phallus for power-over reasons, he could've just done the Eiffel Tower feature and used one of the fancy hotels in the centre of Paris.
> 
> The deforestation of Canada's old-growth forest for toilet paper and facial tissues is also real. Look it up. Pressure your elected representatives about using hemp and/or invasive alien plant species as paper pulp, if you care about things like biodiversity and trees and air.


End file.
